BURN
by Hotaru Shoharu
Summary: 150 years after the 4th shinobi war, the ninja alliance falls and the villages return to their separate lands, things have changed, but one thing has stayed the same, young ninja aspiring to become a legend like the legendary Sixth Hokage. Drama later.


Chapter 1: 150 years later.

**A/N: This is my first fanfic but I like to read alot, so I decided to write one, I think it came out averagely well. so without further delay chapter 1!**

**Disclaimer - I don't own naruto or any of the characters of the anime mentioned in this Fic, However, I do own you and the other characters I created.**

Through the roof tops of Konoha only a shadow could be seen passing by as a blue-eyed spiky orange haired boy, who wore an open black jacket with dark orange lining, on top of a dark orange T-shirt. He had black pants with his orange weapons pack tied neatly to his right leg, black sandals with dark orange Lining at the bottom, jumped through the roofs at top speeds.

"Che, of all days, why did today have to be the one my alarm decided to take a break." Thought Hotaru Shoharu angrily, on a normal basis he may have been happy to miss a bit of class, but today was different, today he would get his chance to become a full-fledged Shinobi of Konoha.

He dashed into the academy building as soon as it entered his sight, He ran to his class room hoping he would make it.

"I'm here!" He Screamed.

"Quiet! The exam has already begun, had this been an official mission your team would have left you behind." The Exam Procter snarled, Hotaru immidetly realized who his exam proctor was, it was Kensachi Taren, he'd often sleep in his class or just ditch in general, but when he was attentive he was smart enough to do his work correctly, Regardless of that he was still near the dead last of his class. He lived alone, well mostly , his Father was always out on missions so he could never actually talk to him much but, he did leave money for him to survive, so Hotaru knew he actually existed, but it was rare for him to actually see his father.

"I'm marking you down 10 points for being late, you have 2 hours to complete this test." Snapping Hotaru out of his thoughts. "Now get over here, take your test," He pulled out a sheet of paper, " AND SHUT UP!" He said angrily, the other students cringed a little. Hotaru Being the logical boy he is, took the sheet of paper and went to sit at one of the higher rows. Hotaru looked at his test and thought one word, " What?" He looked over his quiz four times and found that all the questions were difficult to answer and would take much more than the two hours given to complete the test. He took a deep breath and began writing.

*One and a half Hours later*

Hotaru looked his test sadly, he had to give summaries of all his answers which left out many important details that would cost him points. As he wrote down his last answer he began to notice something, He looked around and noticed he was one of the last six in the class room, surely no one could have finished this test that fast, could they? Did he miss a class that wasn't reviewed? Was he that far behind? He didn't have time to contemplate any further the test was about to end. He scribbled in his last answer and reluctantly gave in his test, "What's wrong boy? Didn't study hard enough? Maybe you should have paid more attention in class." The proctor said maliciously. Hotaru looked at him defiently but could only mumble under his breath, "Basterd..."

Hotaru walked out of the class room to see six ninja, he did not recognize any of them and they were all separated, one was seated right next to the door, another against the wall across from the door, one was laying around in the middle of the passage way, another was strangely enough standing upside down channeling chakra to his feet. One of them was just looking out the window and finally the last one was in the corner on the far right. The one on the floor called out, "Well it looks like your mine, figures." Said the ninja on the floor Obviosly Dissapointed.

Further inspection shows The ninja to have Messy Dark Blue hair and Green eyes, He wore the average shinobi uniform and was taller then Hotaru. " Hey, you," He pointed towards Hotaru. "Follow me we're going to the next exam, by the way name's Ao Zankanashi, But thats Ao-Sensei to you kid." Said Ao.

"Ao it is, so what's the next exam about?" Said Hotaru.

"Figure it out for yourself, see there it is." He said pointing outside the academy. Hotaru could see kunai and shuriken skattered all over the ground. As they walked down Hotaru noticed again everyone was done with this exam as he was the only one there must have been an easy one, sadly though he had terrible apptitude for long range fighting, he was much better close up.

From what Hotaru could see there were 8 targets each scattered about randomly about the training field, Suddenly two ninja apeared in the middle of the targets "Ohhhhhhhhh! We are the siblings of weaponry, to past this exam you must defeat us in a battle of marksmenshipery! I am Yaz," Said the Skinny one to the left. "And I am Kaz!" Said the burly one to the Right.

...Scilence.

"Marksmenshipery isn't a word." Said Hotaru breaking the scilence." Are these the guys giving me the exam?" Hotaru whispered to Ao.

"A little eccentric aren't they? Have fun!" With that Ao dissapeared in a puff of white smoke.

"WAIT AO!" He made a motion to grab him but was much too slow to actually get him.

"Let us begin the first part of this exam" Said Yaz " You will have to beat me in pinpoint accuracy whomever get the most bullseyes wins, however let me give you a fair warning, out of all the students who took these exams today only 9 have passed."

To say Hotaru was shocked was an understatement Hotaru had a class of over 40 students and only 9 of them have passed, What was this test? At this time Kaz seemed to have dissapeared. After a few seconds something clicked.

" You know, I like those odds." Hotaru said similing

"Please, come to the starting line over here." Yaz pointed to where he was standing.

"Good luck." Yaz patted him on the sholder. Hotaru seemed to ignore it though.

"Before we begin, remember the ninja motto, ninja must be able to look underneith the undernieth, never forget that." Hotaru gave Yaz a confused look, but sweeped it off as nothing but the mindless ramblings of teachers.

_Whatever, lets just get this over with._Thought Hotaru as he walked to Yaz.

"I hope your ready." Hotaru Focused on the first target he could see.

"Begin!"

Hotaru dashed to the nearest target, on top of a bolder, he reached for his weapon pouch pulled out a kunai when he noticed, Yaz had not moved, was he just going to stand there? Either way he jumped up and was about to throw the kunai, then out of the blue, a kunai smashed into the target dead on bull's eye.

"What!" Hotaru Looked behind him, Yaz still looked like he had not moved and that target was easily 1 KM away, How had he done that with that much force? He stood still for a few seconds before he counted his losses and ran to the next target.

" If that's the case, then I'll just throw it from a little further away!"

Hotaru came up near the next target and throw his kunai.

"Yes, I got it now!." But as those words spewed out into his mind, another kunai knife hit, and knocked off course his own kunai, again Yaz's kunai smashed into the target dead on bullseye.

"Thats two!" yelled Yaz, just loud enough for Hotaru to hear.

"Ngh, I'll get the next one for sure." He ran to the next target at top speeds towards the next target only for similar results.

"Damn it! I only have room for a few more mistakes, This won't work if I fail this exam, but... What can I do? His kunai only hit the targets when i throw mine so theres no point i- only when i throw mine? Yeah, he hasn't thrown unless I threw first. But why? " Hotaru's mind seemed to flash on its own, _Wait!_

**Flashback**

_"Please, come to the starting line over here." Yaz pointed to where he was standing._

_"Good luck." Yaz patted him on the sholder. Hotaru seemed to ignore it though._

_"Before we begin, remember the ninja motto ninja must be able to look underneith the undernieth, never forget that." Hotaru gave Yaz a confused look, but sweeped it off as nothing but the mindless ramblings of teachers._

**Flashback end**

_Undernieth, the undernieth? What does that mean? Was he trying to tell me something? Mmh... I'll go to another target and pay more attention to where the kunai is coming from._ With that Hotaru began running towards the clearing with the 4th target was on a tree higher up, he jumped up and aimed, and threw the kunai.

_Okay, where are you comming from?_ he tried to listen in but heard nothing, then "THUNK." He looked up to see the same results as the previous three, the other mans kunai was stuck up their in the tree. Hotaru's eyes widened, "How? I didn't even hear it?" Hotaru eyes widened at this statement. _I didn't hear it? But then how is he throwing them, if Yaz is useing so much force that it actually cracks the target from this far away, it should atleast make sounds in the forest while its getting here, loud sounds at that but I heard nothing._

"Look underneith the underneith." He slowly mouthed. Suddenly his mind went back to when Yaz had patted his shoulder. "_Thats It, he must have somekind of chakra bug or something on my shoulder, that's relaying all this information so he can time his throws accordiningly, but that still doesnt explain the power or the lack of travel... ahh, i'll figure that out later. For now..."_ He looked around his shoulder and after a little while found a small kanji over his skin. He was about to wipe it off when he had a thought, _Wait, If i wipe this off he'll know instantly... But maybe I can interfere with it to give him the wrong information._

Hotaru slowly began to charge chakra into the kanji, then when he was sure he did... something, he began running to the fifth target, conviniently placed near the previous one.

"Here Goes, Everything!" He threw his kunai with full force, this time no other kunai came to knock off his own, and smash into the tree, his kunai hit dead center.

" he,he I figured out his game, I'll get through this easy now!"

*30 min later*

Yaz looked at his watch, _30 minutes huh? not bad, he's quick on his feet._

As if on cue Hotaru came running up to Yaz rather tired like with cuts and scratches of the sort.

"I... I Win." Puffed out Hotaru,

"So I noticed, and with 6 of the 10 Targets, just barely passing, for that I believe you deserve the dance of JOY!"

"Wha-"

"JOOOOOOOOY, happy happy happy..." Yaz broke into dance while Hotaru sadly watched.

_Just where or what do these guys come from anyways?_ Thought Hotaru as a sweatdrop formed behind his head.

Yaz eventually stoped his 'dance' and got a serious look in his eye. " This is where my test ends." On cue Kaz dropped from the sky and cracked the ground benieth him.

" He has passed, brother? I didn't realise you had gotten tired, to allow such a weak looking boy to pass, but let me tell you something boy, I wont be so easy." Said Kaz

" Wait hold on a minute, I haven't gotten to ask, why could you throw the kunai so far or with so much power, and know when I throw it or-"

Stop, stop, I know what your asking, By the fact that you won, I can guess you found out about the seal correct?" Hotaru nodded his head. " That seal allowed me to see what you saw, further than that it allowed me to use my own personal jutsu, I shrowed the target in my chakra which Ihad done beforehand, next I shrowed whatever I am holding with my chakra, then if I can see the target I throw my object, regardless where or how strong the throw is, it will always hit its mark, quickly and powerfuly."

"I see." Said Hotaru understandingly.

The purpose of my exam was to test your observation skilles under pressure and your long range weapon skilles, for my exam I reward you with a score of..." Hotaru started to get goose bumps,

"6 out of 10! Just enough to pass." said Yaz.

"YEAH!" Hotaru began to supiriorly, " That's what happens when someone amazing like me comes along!"

" Enough! it's time to begin the next part of this exam." Hotaru snapped to attention and looked at Kaz.

" This part is to test your prowess in close combat, using whatever means you like," He pulled out a scroll, did a few handseals and slammed his hand on it. suddenly weapons of all sizes and sorts poofed into existance and out of the scroll. "However you may chose to use any of these weapons if you wish."

" The rules are simple we will battle for 1 minute, I will fight at a genin type level, you however, will fight with everything you have, the objective is to simply to avoid being hit for 1 minute, if you are hit at any time, you will lose points toward your final score.

Hotaru visably pailed, _I've never fought with weapons, i'd better be smart and use what I know, my fist. _He thought, he scanned the scroll anyways he found all the weapons to be forign to him even the swords were strange.

"I'll be using this." Said Kaz as he picked up a regular old sword.

" You never said you'd use a weapon!" Exclamied Hotaru.

" I never said I wouldn't either, now decide, weapon, or hand to sword." It wasent a question, He was serious.

Hotaru got more anxious as he saw Kaz swing the sword in practice swings.

_"Maybe I should grab a sword, that seems the most obvious." _ He made a grab for the closest sword, when out of the courner of his eyes, he something caught his attention, he then walked over to them forgetting about the sword, and made a grab for it. They were trench knives, Hotaru examend them then decided they would fit his style the best as they would allow him to fight close up and personal without feeling too different. He put them on then looked up at Kaz.

"I see, trench knives, Interesting choice. Remember this Come out with the intent to kill or you will fail or worse die." He picked up a timer and set it on the ground. "

Dodge my attacks for 1 minute in order to pass with the highest points possible we begin at the tick of the timer.

Hotaru droped into his usual stance but with trench knives in hand, he stared at Kaz, It became so quiet in the field you could hear a pin drop.

"Ting!"

The Timer sounded signaling the start of the battle. Kaz jumped towards Hotaru, and started with a large swing downward staight to Hotaru's head. Hotaru Brought up his Knives to defend, they made contact, "T-this Pressure." He muttered, as he almost gave into the weight. Quickly he jumped back as the sword came crashing down. Suddenly Kaz seemed to dissapear from sight, then he felt a kick to his stomach just as soon a Kaz reapeared, this sent him flying a few meters back he backfliped to regain his balance, " Damn, That's one." He thought. Kaz then went near some dirt and sweeped some into Hotaru's face, now that he couldnt see Kaz took pleasure in kicking him in the face then again sending him flying with a hard power kick. Kaz now jumped into the air, going in for a sweeping strike with his sword from his left, Hotaru, again attempted to defend this time defending with both knives but to no avail he was knocked off his feet, by the sheer power of the collision, he used this to gain some distance by handspringing backwards. Kaz again charged at Hotaru, Hotaru tried to sweep Kaz's legs, but Kaz Jumped over him, Then tried to drive his sword through Hotaru's cranium. Hotaru in response, Jumped forward to dodge, then looked back,

**Flashback**

_"Come out, with the intent to kill, or you will fail, or worse, die."_

**Flashback end**

" If I can't dodge, I'll take the battle to you!" He said viciosly as he charged Kaz.

"TAKE THIS YOU BASTERD!"

He Bashed his right hand straight into Kaz's sword, Then used the momentum to flip around and kick Kaz in the face. Kaz didn't even flinch,

*20 seconds left.*

Kaz made a punch for Hotaru's face, he dodged, then Hotaru tried to drive his left trench knive in Kaz's gut, But Kaz grabed his arm before contact, Then Kaz threw Hotaru back.

*10 seconds*

Hotaru Flew to the ground, as he felt Kaz approching, "This is it." Kaz then was standing over Hotaru ready to stab his sword into his neck when,

"Brrrrriiinnnggg!"

"Hmph, times up, you managed to survive, " Said Kaz emotionless, as he pulled away his sword. " I hit you about 4 times so I dock you 4 points, then half a point for me throwing you and another half for my sword being placed at your neck.

"Alright, Alright get to the point already." He said a little angrily.

"However I reward you two points, for being the first student to understand what this exam entailed."

"Wha-"

Willpower. While we battled you stayed on the defensive because you assumed I was more powerful then you from the intial blow, however when you realized that you couldn't dodge me, you instead attempted to take the offensive, no other student today out of the twenty four that passed, none of them tried what you just did. For this I award you a seven out of ten.

Hotaru visably brightened, "Alright! Just two more exams to go, this is nothing, piece of cake!" He said as he laughed triumphently.

"Your skills with a weapon need work you were restricted by your own weapons and your style was little more than sloppy." Kaz explained.

"Whatever, It's not like i'm going to use these anyways" He said as he dropped Kaz's trench knives onto the ground. Kaz seemed have anime tears comming out of his eyes, "My babies, MY BABIES!"

"Woah calm down there, I just dropped them. Here, good as new." Then something occured to him. "Wait you said twenty four students passed, Yaz said only nine did.

Kaz seemed to pick himself up as he said "That was only a ploy to intimidate you to make you lose confidence in yourself and make more mistakes , but if anything you only became more confident."

"WHY THAT LITTLE LIAR, AND TO THINK I WAS STARTING TO LIKE THAT GUY." Said an annoyied Hotaru.

Kaz began to sweatdrop.

Go through the academy's main hallway and you should see the ninja who first brought you here, he will take you to the next stage of the exam." Said Kaz.

Hotaru than waved good bye and walked off into the academies direction, then a thought occured to him_. "That last test almost killed me. What about the others..."_ He stopped dead in his tracks, He always knew that this situation would come, often really, but to have it happen, to have it... so close. He began to laugh not through insanity but understanding.

"Something like this is going to happen all the time, no point in getting freaked out about it."

He walked into the boundless skyline mentally preparing himself for what the next exam entailed.

**So how did I do for my first try at fanfiction? I like it, the chapter was fun to write, Please review, critism is widely accepted. Also, anyone know any good naruto time travel fics, or how about one where naruto travels into another version of his own demension love those but I can't find many.I wonder if you guys noticed but i ried to make hotaru kinda like yusuke from Yuyuhakasho. :D**

**I am sure there a billion problems i've yet to see someone please point them out for me.**


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